Chapter 4Ten Years of Going Our Separate Ways in Marriage: His Regret Kicked In When I Asked for Divorce

To be honest, I started regretting it as soon as I got home.

After being with Jack for so many years, even just dividing up our assets would be a very complicated affair.

For both of us, it would be a painful ordeal.

That's why all these years we had tacitly agreed to live our separate lives, but never actually brought up divorce.

But remembering Ethan's eyes, I felt a secret excitement and reckless sense of liberation in my heart again.

Perhaps it was time to start a new life.

"Kids, you know," I smiled. "Always acting on impulse. If I don't agree he'll just get upset again.

You understand, right?" I looked at Jack. "Isn't Olivia the same way?"

Jack's brows lowered, revealing a hint of gloom he couldn't hide.

"Rachel, you're really serious about this?"

Admitting I was serious about a guy 8 years younger than me wasn't something I could easily say out loud.

But I still nodded.

"Ethan is different from the others."

Jack had once said those exact words to me, when I demanded to know why he had to be with Olivia:

"Olivia is different from the others."

His "others" of course included me.

I never thought I'd be saying those words back to him now.

Jack paused, a storm of emotions gathering in his eyes. His fingers slowly clenched, knuckles turning white.

He sneered, "Rachel, you're really regressing.

What can some snot-nosed kid give you?"

He jerked his chin at the coat I had carelessly tossed on the couch behind me.

"Could he afford even one of your coats with a year's salary?"

That wasn't untrue.

Over the years, although Jack's heart hadn't been with me, he had still been very generous materially.

I could use his credit cards freely. I didn't even need to go look at new luxury items myself - the store managers would bring models to try things on for me at home.

No wonder Olivia was so desperate to secure her position. The life of a rich man's wife truly was decadent and luxurious.

I touched the unremarkable diamond ring on my hand.

It was from an average brand, with average clarity and an average setting.

The kind of thing that would never even appear in my jewelry box.

But I liked it more than all the others.

"It's fine, I don't care about those things."

Jack had clearly noticed the ring on my hand too.

The engagement ring he had bought me was a 7 million dollar pigeon egg diamond, dazzlingly opulent. He had it specially shipped from Hong Kong.

I had always been too afraid to wear it, so I bought a cheaper pair of matching rings for us to wear instead.

But after those first few good years passed, we started living separate lives.

Or rather, he unilaterally grew tired of me.

He stopped wearing his ring, because the young girls outside didn't like it.

During one of our countless fights, I yanked off that ring and threw it as hard as I could.

Afterwards, that ring was never found again. My hand remained bare until now.

I repeated, "Jack, let's get divorced."

He paused for a moment, then suddenly lunged forward!

The coffee table crashed to the floor, the vase shattering with a crisp sound.

I was startled, but he grabbed me by the throat!

Jack leaned in close, his eyes full of viciousness.

"Rachel," his voice lost its usual coolness for the first time, "Who gave you permission to be serious?!"